Housing Trust Group won approval from the city of Hollywood for Hillcrest Village, an all-affordable, eight-story apartment development with 110 units in the city’s Hillcrest area.
The Hollywood City Commission voted unanimously last week to rezone the Hillcrest Village development site, approve the proposed site plan, and modify a master plan for the planned development of the city’s Hillcrest area just west of I-95 along Pembroke Road.
The market for rent-restricted apartments at Hillcrest Village probably will include current residents of the Hillcrest area, Hollywood Vice Mayor Idelma Quintana said at the city commission meeting.
“One of the reasons that I gave for supporting this project was the understanding that there are many current Hillcrest residents who are having trouble meeting their own housing costs and are concerned about being able to stay in the community,” Quintana said. “Some of the folks there are afraid of losing their condos.”
HTG plans to reserve the one- and two-bedroom apartments for renters who earn 30 percent to 80 percent of area median income. That equates to a range of $28,860 to $76,960, based on data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that shows that Broward County’s median household income is $96,200.
The longtime owner of the 2.5-acre development site at 1101 Hillcrest Drive is Hollywood-based Tobin, a family owned real estate business led by Chairman and CEO Herbert A. Tobin and President and COO Jason L. Tobin.
Tobin jointly applied for city approvals for the affordable housing development with Miami-based Housing Trust Group, led by President and CEO Matthew Rieger and Executive Chairman and founder Randy Rieger.
The mixed-income apartment building would have a specific number of units for renters based on their income. The majority, 52 units, would be reserved for renters with up to 60 percent of area median income. Another 31 units would be for renters with up to 70 percent of AMI. Renters with up to 30 percent of AMI would occupy 17 of the units, and those with up to 80 percent would occupy 10 of the units.
Amenities planned for Hillcrest Village include a pool, gym, clubhouse and café, along with Amazon parcel lockers, a playground and a rooftop community garden. The mixed-use development also is designed with 744 square feet of office space.
In approving the site plan for Hillcrest Village, city commissioners also selected one of two possible architectural designs for the development. The commissioners chose the original design at their meeting last week, after Housing Trust Group presented an alternative design to them.
In August, the Hollywood Planning and Development Board recommended approval of HTG’s proposed site plan, on the condition that the developer prepare and present an alternative design for the Hollywood City Commission’s review.
